Heavy duty soil sampler

ABSTRACT

A heavy duty soil sampler is provided which includes a driving head that is detachably connected to a split plug which is fixedly secured to a hollow split barrel with the head and plug retained together by set screws engaged in a groove in the plug. The barrel is held together at the lower end by a hollow shoe in threaded engagement therewith.

United States Patent Guest June 18, 1974 HEAVY DUTY SOIL SAMPLER 2,807,439 9/1957 Lipscomb 175/239 x 3,092,192 6/1963 Deely 175/239 x [75] Inventor: Gem'ge w-GuesbBemon Townshp 3,l80,438 4/1965 Dickinson et 175/239 Lackawanna County, 3,515,230 6/1970 Tomaine 175/242 Primary Examiner-David H. Brown Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Zachary T. Wobensmith,

ABSTRACT A heavy duty soil sampler is provided which includes a driving head that is detachably connected to a split plug which is fixedly secured to a hollow split barrel with the head and plug retained together by set screws engaged in a groove in the plug. The barrel is held together at the lower end by a hollow shoe in threaded engagement therewith.

[73] Assignee: Sprague & l-lernwood, Incorporated,

Scranton, Pa.

[22] Filed: Mar. 1, 1973 2nd [21] Appl. No.: 337,082

[52] US. Cl. 175/239, 175/20 [51 I Int. Cl..... E2lb9/l6, E2lb 25/00, E2lb 27/00 [58] Field of Search 175/20, 239, 240, 242, 175/249, 327, 405

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,795,395 6/1957 Acker et al. l75/239 31 33 I 35 1 a *1 5 3 32 I 2*30 3 54b 55 -27 i E 12 3 i /3A J 1; i l E K 6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUM I 8 m4 l l I I 1 I I I l i I l l l I l l l l l l I l I I I l I 1 l I II FIG! HEAVY DUTY-SOIL SAMPLER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a heavy duty soil sampler of the type having a two piece split tube barrel construction with a lower shoe and oppositely removably attached driving head in threaded engagement with the barrel.

2. Description of the Prior Art Soil samplers have been in use for many many years and commonly are used whenever a large building or highway is constructed. The larger sizes of buildings and highways being constructed require deeper and more frequent soil sampling than in the past in order to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the subsurface soil conditions.

Hollow tube barrels of the two piece longitudinal split type have been in common use for some time but all suffer from an undesirably short service life. Typical examples are shown in the US. patents to Acker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,795,395 and Tomaine, US. Pat. No. 3,515,230.

Lipscomb, US. Pat. No. 2,807,439 and Dickinson et al., US. Pat. No. 3,180,438 show other samplers.

The most common problem is failure of the driving head where the driving head joins the upperend of the split tube. The driving head may split and mushroom over the end of the tube. Another common problem is wear and damage to the threads connecting the driving head to the upper end of the split tube barrel, with the result that about twice as many driving heads are used as are split tube barrels. Damage and wear of the threads at the upper end of the split tube barrel results in it having a short service life.

The soil sampler of the present invention does not have the disadvantages of previous samplers and has many advantages over the previous samplers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention a heavy duty soil sampler is provided which is constructed so that the forces present'due to sudden driving of its shoe and barrel into soil are distributed over a large area of the driving head and upper end of the split tube barrel. The absence ofa threaded connection at this point, provides a maximum driving area which results in very little likelihood of damage to either the barrel or the head.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a heavy duty soil sampler that has a long service life.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heavy duty soil sampler which is relatively simple and inexpensive to make.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heavy duty soil sampler that may be quickly and easily assembled and disassembled.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the heavy duty soil sampler of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken approximately on the line 22 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken approximately on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken approximately on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the heavy duty soil sampler includes a head or driving portion 11, a longitudinal hollow split barrel l2 and a shoe 13. The head 11 is of generally cylindrical configuration and provided with an internal bore 14 having threads 15 which are preferably square threads and which receive a drill rod (not shown) which extends to the driving mechanism (not shown) at the surface of the ground. Approximately half the distance down the head 11 from the top a hole 18 is drilled transversely so that a pin retainer (not shown) can be inserted to retain the valve ball 24 in the head 11. Directly below the bore 14 an axial bore 20 is provided which is of lesser diameter with a vent 21 to atmosphere and bore 20 is provided with a valve seat 22 and a hollow bore 23 of smaller diameter extending therebelow. A valve ball 24 is provided for venting which normally rests on the valve seat 22 to prevent undersired passage of water or soil thereby. The bore 23 terminates at a larger bore 25 forming an axial aperture 26 with the bore 25 extending to the lower terminus of the head 11.

The barrel 12, at its upper end 27, is provided with a two piece split plug 30 which has an upper end 31 of cylindrical configuration for engagement into bore 25 of head I l. The plug 30 has two opposite flats 32 across the end 31 which may be engaged by two set screws 33 in head 11 for retention of plug 30 therein. The end 31 terminates at a lower cylindrical portion 34 which has its two parts 34A and 34B welded to the corresponding parts of the split barrel 12. The plug 30 is provided with a longitudinal bore 35 of the same diameter as that of bore 23 in head 11 which extends the length of plug 30.

The plug 30 is preferably formed of steel for durability but may be formed of other suitable materials if desired.

The barrel 12 is composed of two parts 36 and 36a which are retained together at the upper end 27 by the head 11 engaging the split plug 30 and at the bottom portion 38 by the shoe 13.

The bottom portion 38 of the barrel I2 is of reduced diameter and provided with external threads 39 of square configuration engaged with internal threads 40 of shoe 13.

The barrel 12 has a bore 41 therein between its parts 36 and 36a to receive a core of soil (not shown).

The shoe 13 is of the same external diameter as barrel l2 and head 11 and is of cylindrical configuration with a lower beveled portion 42 to enable it to penetrate soil and additionally has an internal bore 43 to resaid barrel having a lower threaded portion in deceive a core of soil (not shown) to be removed for analtachable engagement with the threaded portion of ysis. said shoe.

The shoe 13 has an exterior knurled portion 44 to en- 2, A h v d il ampler a defined in claim 1 in able it to be readily attached and detached from the 5 which said driving head has an internal threaded portion at 15 h pp l that strufitul'e h been prPvlded the end opposite to said bore for receiving a drill with which the ObjECIS of the invention are achieved. rod

1. A heavy duty soil sampler which comprises: 10 whi'ch eavy u y Samp er as 6 me m c m a driving head with a have been inserted before lower terminus providing an upper driving head having an internal cylindrical bore and a lower driving shoulder,

a lower shoe having an internally threaded portion, 5

said retaining means comprises opposed set screws carried by said driving head and engaged with said opposite portions.

4. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 3 in which a hollow tubular longitudinally split barrel between Said Opposite pomfms are flats" Said head and said Shoe having an upper terminus 5. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 1 in in engagement with said first mentioned terminus, f

said plug portion is split in alignment with the split of said barrel having extending upwardly from said secthe ond mentioned terminus a plug portion in slidable A heavy y Sampler as defined 5 engagement in said bore, hlch retaining means carried by said head in retaining enthe splits in Said barrel and in said plug are offset gagement with said plug portion on opposite porfrom a diametrical plane. tions thereof, and

numb STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICAT'EOF CORRECTION Patent No. M 3'Q' Q W Datea June 18, 1974 Inventor(s) G g Guest It is certified that errof app'ears 'in the aboveidenti'fied patent and that s aid'- Let t ers Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column -2-,' after "prevent" delete "ondersired" and insert undesired Claim 1, second linen-of the claim after "with a"; delete "have been inserted".

signedendea'led thi 31st day of Deceznbe r .974.

Q SEAL) Actest; I v

McC 'OY 2 4. GIBSON JR. c, c. MARSHALL DANN Attestlng Officer-n 7} Commissioner of Patents F PO-105O (10 9 I I I uscmm'oc U S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 93o 

1. A heavy duty soil sampler which comprises: a driving head with a have been inserted before lower terminus providing an upper driving head having an internal cylindrical bore and a lower driving shoulder, a lower shoe having an internally threaded portion, a hollow tubular longitudinally split barrel between said head and said shoe having an upper terminus in engagement with said first mentioned terminus, said barrel having extending upwardly From said second mentioned terminus a plug portion in slidable engagement in said bore, retaining means carried by said head in retaining engagement with said plug portion on opposite portions thereof, and said barrel having a lower threaded portion in detachable engagement with the threaded portion of said shoe.
 2. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 1 in which said driving head has an internal threaded portion at the end opposite to said bore for receiving a drill rod.
 3. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 1 in which said retaining means comprises opposed set screws carried by said driving head and engaged with said opposite portions.
 4. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 3 in which said opposite portions are flats.
 5. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 1 in which said plug portion is split in alignment with the split of the barrel.
 6. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 5 in which the splits in said barrel and in said plug are offset from a diametrical plane. 